Welcome to the Fishing Report. It is overcast but clear this morning, there is no fog in the valley or the mountains. When I stopped at the swinging bridge to take the water temperature a couple of guys floated by in kayaks. They were fishing and having a big time. Townsend is quiet this morning except for the guy in the pickup truck who honked at me for not exceeding the speed limit in the left lane. He was not local of course. I wish jerks like him would vacation somewhere else. Or, maybe he is a customer and was honking to say hello. Well, I don’t want him to vacation somewhere else.

A coyote took a positiion next to our house in the middle of the night and started howling. It was making some other noise I have not heard before. Dubbing (our cat) jumped up on a wooden filing cabinet. His tail was still big this morning. Paula went out on the porch and the coyote shut up for a minute. When she came back in it started up again. Usually when this happens there are a pack of them. I would imagine the turkeys and rabbits were freaking out just like Dubbing.

The water is getting low. It is still way above normal for this date. Unless things change we are going to get some rain. There is a 70% chance tomorrow just like there was last Wednesday when Jack and I went fishing. He and I fished all day and we got almost 1” of rain. Tomorrow Paula and I are going fishing. We will probably experience the same outcome. The chance for rain continues through Sunday.

Fishing today will be best early and late. Tomorrow it will be cloudy and probably raining so you might make a day of it. I would use terrestrials today. A Green Weenie would be my choice. I might drop that off a foam beetle. Tomorrow, if we get some rain and color to the water, a streamer or pair of large nymphs might yield a large brown. Over the next few days the temperature is going to drop and fishing should get better. It’s fine now but I’ll take better.

Kevin Howell came by yesterday. He owns Davidson River Outfitters in Brevard, North Carolina. He’s a great guy and an excellent fisherman. He has won several National televised fly fishing competitions. We have been good friends for a long time. On his way back to North Carolina he planned to stop and fish the Pigeon River. He had his Clacka Craft drift boat and a small moped in the bed of his truck. This gives him the flexibility to perform his own shuttle. He stops at the takeout point, unloads the moped and locks it to a tree. Then he drives upstream and launches the boat. When he arrives at the takeout point he locks the boat to a tree, drives the moped back to his truck and drives the rig downstream to where the boat is. I like the whole idea except the part about driving a motorcycle.

Frank Bryant who owns Chota has another self shuttle method. He pulls some small car behind his truck. I think it is a Suzuki Samuri. His canoe is mounted to the top of his truck. He drops off the Suzuki at the takeout, heads upstream and does the same thing as Kevin with a four wheel vehicle instead of a motorcycle.

I used to like cars. Somehow I grew out of that in my 30’s. My truck has not been washed since 2006 when the drought started. After the drought was officially over I just felt like, after two years of driving a dirty truck it didn’t matter to me anymore what it looks like. I guess I got used to it. However, I have washed our new boat after every use. I even waxed the motor last night. Also last night I looked at the new 2010 Chevrolet Camaro online. Dang! I want one. I won’t get one but I want one. I could not find the gas mileage on the website. I’m guessing since the motor has 426 horsepower, fuel efficiency is not an issue. I even built mine online. Check it out below.